site.btaMadrid-based Balkan Bulgarian Folklore Ensemble to Perform Original Dance at Munich Festival

The Balkan Bulgarian folklore ensemble from Madrid, Spain, will perform original dance at the 11th Expats Join Hands in Worldwide Dance travelling festival, which will take place in Munich from May 15 to 17.

The formation’s dance performance, titled And Where Is the Maiden?, was especially created for the festival, the ensemble’s choreographer Gergana Madzharova told BTA.

According to her, the choreography is her own work.

"The music is a compilation put together by Ananas Valchev and includes Pazardzhishko Horo and Wedding Rachenitsa, duduk music from Northwestern Bulgaria, Vlach horo and Northern Bulgarian pravo horo. The arrangement is by Anastas Naumov," Madzharova said.

Madzharova explained that the ensemble consists of dancers from three groups located near Madrid. "The participants are between 14 and 66 years old," she added.

According to her, the Balkan Bulgarian folklore ensemble was established in 2003 as a project of the BalkanIz Association. Madzharova noted that for the ensemble’s members, folklore is closely connected to their personal destinies and roots. Over the years, the formation’s main goal has been to promote Bulgarian traditions, she added.

"Our main aim is to spread our wonderful traditions far and wide, to preserve them in our hearts and to pass them on to our children," Gergana Madzharova said.

The travelling festival Expats Join Hands in Worldwide Dance is organized by and for amateur folklore ensembles performing outside Bulgaria. The initiative was launched by the Ot Izvora group in Lyon, France, which hosted both the first edition in 2015 and the tenth edition in 2025. More than 100 dance ensembles and over 4,000 guests are expected at the 11th edition in Munich in May. The Bulgarian News Agency (BTA) is the official media partner of the event and will present all participants.